About

Body getting tighter as you age? Need for more energy for life? Would you like to move more efficiently? Don’t know how to form a fist? Don’t know how to kick? This series of 25 Lessons of Kung Fu has what you need!

For centuries, Kung Fu training has viewed the physical body as a gate through which the human heart, mind and spirit can be accessed and transformed.

Transformation occurs as a weak body becomes powerful, low vitality becomes robust vitality, and a fearful spirit becomes unstoppably courageous.

Gaining Kung Fu mastery requires four key aspects.

1. A strong desire to transform your body/life.
2. A method that gets reliable results.
3. Clear instruction in what to practice.
4. Repetition of the instructions to embody the skills as a part of you.

In the western world ‘Kung Fu’ refers to Chinese martial arts. However, the term Kung Fu literally translates as ‘skill beyond surface beauty’. It is deep understanding and skill born from effort and practice time.

To go deep with Kung Fu skills, less is more. Less movements allows you to focus on one or two exercises. This equates to more time spent on each exercise to forge directly to the roots of the power behind all techniques. This is known as the ‘Body Method’ (Shen Fa). This is how I was taught in my 17-year Internal Kung Fu Apprenticeship l. The focus was to go straight to the roots of the power.

What I learnt was how to develop the human body for complete harnessing of its natural power. There are keys to power development and every person’s body has latent power that can be released from it. Improving coordination, lessening residual muscle tension, and increasing leg strength is how to produce this result.

On a physical level, Kung Fu aims to turn your body into a weapon. It aims to channel a kinetic wave of your entire body mass into a single point.

So, what are the key details in generation of full body power?

• Relaxing the muscles to release deeply held tension (this blocks your power more than anything).
• Learning how to rotate your hips and waist. This is the primary power generator.
• Increase leg strength the Kung Fu way. This is the foundation of the power and your connection to the earth (known as ground force) the earth itself becomes your ally.
• Learn to spring load your spine like a bow. This is how animals generate most of their power.
• Zone stack the central axis of the body. This means you can hold a resilient centerline. The spine transfers power from the legs to the hands. It must be flexible yet strong.
• Activate the ‘Kwa’. This is how the masters seem to be so effortlessly connected to the ground and issue explosive power. Activating the Kwa instantly stops excessive rotation from destroying your knees. More people need to know how to activate the Kwa! This is a big reason I have developed this course!
• Tension control. This is about the mind body energy connection.
• Meditative practices. Focus on specific areas of the body produce different effects on our consciousness and how energy is circulated through the body.
• Head and neck alignment: this relieves neck tension from everyday activity and prevents any uncontrolled power generated from the hips from going into the head. Headaches can be a common experience for those gaining more power if they don’t have this key detail.
• Shoulder and elbow position to connect with the spine and prevent hyperextended joints.
• Detail for spiraling motion of the arms to open the deep fascia inside the four arm fascial chains.
• How to connect with the ground better through the torque produced by the thighs in relation to the hips.

25 lessons of Kung Fu is exactly that. 25 lessons of key, detailed information on how move the human body to generate maximum power and looseness.

Your body will be transformed through regular practice of this series of lessons.

So what are the exercises that are taught in the 25 lessons?

Five base power exercises are taught with Complete detail for each part of the body. They are:

1. Base power punch.
2. Shovel kick (knee level height).
3. Low Horse Stance with Iron claw punch.
4. Arrow punching using Bow Stance.
5. Dragon and Tiger Kick and Punch form (a three-movement series repeated on both sides of the body).

The focus of the 25 lessons of Kung Fu training is learning these five key movements. They have been selected because they take you straight to the roots of the energy and power. The 25 lessons progressively build you up to practicing a single repeating form known as the Shaolin Dragon and Tiger form.

Why the Shaolin Dragon and Tiger form?

It is the quickest method I learnt in my 17-year kung fu apprenticeship to transform the body, mind and spirit!

Why the fancy names of Kung Fu forms?

‘Shaolin’ refers to the famed Shaolin Temple in China where this method originated. It has been practiced daily for 1565 years. It is the birthplace of Zen meditation and Philosophy and all of Southeast Asian martial arts have been influenced by this Temple.

‘Dragon’ is the ultimate symbol of transformation in Chinese culture. The Dragon represents Wisdom and hidden power. The movements of the Dragon are twisting and spiraling. The human is designed to move in spirals. The Shaolin dragon and Tiger form powers your body by fully harnessing spiral motion. Through its practice your body mind and spirit are transformed.

‘Tiger’ represents obvious power and courage. it has a strong spirit and uses it spine, muscles and tendons to generate power. Its eyes are fierce revealing its fearlessness, singular focus and determination.

The combination of these two ‘spirits’ is a perfect blend of yin and yang forces (inside/outside, push/pull, soft/hard), the fundamental dynamic of the universe.

The Shaolin Dragon and Tiger form teaches how to powerfully and precisely use the hips, waist, spine and limbs via essential teaching on:

• The Five bows (how elastic force in human body is stored and released outwards).
• The Six harmonies (how ideal coordination is built in the segments of the physical body and how power is enhanced via the focus of eye, mind and energy).
• Open and Close (very important in getting the spring loading of the spine online within the movements). This is amazing for spinal control and health.
• Wrapping (how the spiral nature of muscle/tendon attachments are maximised along with fascia to twist around the bones. This is the same principle of winding up silk tightly [inward spiral] and letting it go to see the potential inside the material generate an outward spiral).
• Chi gong (How to enhance your energy for life/vitality in a tangible way).
• Joint alignment (how to ensure maximal joint stability and spring by ensuring key segments align with other segments).
• Ground force (how to make maximal use of the ground you stand upon for absorbing body weight into your feet and initiating power from the ground. Similar to placing a chair at 45 degrees under a door handle to stop forced entry).

Learning Kung Fu is not simply memorising a few movements. It is the quality of the movement that determines how highly skilled a practitioner is. The quality is shown in the degree of transformation the body has undergone through the specific method taught in the 25 lessons and practice of key supplementary exercises.

In Kung Fu these supplementary exercises are called fasong gong (open from inside and release tension downwards). To westerns they look like warm up exercises. To the Chinese creators of these exercises they are much more than warmups. They are key ingredient in the process of the body method. They greatly aid body transformation, reduce injury risk, and enhance movement literacy.

25 Lessons of Kung Fu contains over 8 hours of detailed content divided in to 60+ video clips! The Supplementary exercises aid the five base power exercises by:

• Allowing joints to fully rotate.
• Make deeper mind-muscle connections.
• Open the ability to load the body like a spring.
• Free up restricted joints -Increase range of motion in
• Lengthen fascia
• Improve posture -Enhance blood and energy circulation through the body.
• Build energy in the body.
• Deeply relax highly strung tissue.
• Open spaces inside the body that are usually compressed.
• Unwind stress from office work or hard labour.
• Increase vitality for greater energy for life!

Once learnt, the Five base power exercises are practiced in a three-movement form (repeatable sequence for transforming the body) that is symmetrically practiced on both sides of the body. Many body aches stem from uneven coordination and strength on the left and right hemispheres of the body.

Many Kung Fu systems practice forms that enhance the right side of the body only. This makes a practitioner very skilled on the right side but feel Like a beginner on the left side.

Deep Kung Fu practitioners (known as ‘Inner door’ students) are taught to train the left side of a form in private.

For example, Tai Chi forms are meant to be practiced on the right side for three years and then one year on the left side and then evenly thereafter. This is not commonly done and is rare to witness in public.

So, singular repeating movements are a faster way to produce the movement mechanics for even coordination and power output on the right AND left sides.

Disclaimer

The 25 Lessons of Kungfu program is intended to provide fitness and relaxation with a focus on the martial art of Kungfu. The program is not designed to diagnose, treat, or cure any medical condition, and participants should consult with their healthcare provider before starting any exercise program, especially if they have any pre-existing medical conditions or injuries. 25 Lessons of Kungfu is a low-impact form of exercise, but there is still a risk of injury. Participants should take precautions to avoid injury by using proper form and technique during all exercises. The creators of the 25 Lessons of Kungfu program and Tai Chi Healing Arts as an entity are not liable for any injury or damages that may occur from participation in the program.

Frequently Asked Questions